Disc brakes on road bikes

[AndyRM]

The elephant in the room remains------------------disc brake DO NOT scab up expensive rims. Secondarily rims on disc brake bikes can be more aero and stronger.

How is that an elephant? There's nowt wrong with rim brakes.

How expensive are your wheels?

 

[Dogtrousers]

An "elephant in the room" is something everyone knows but nobody mentions.

The propensity of rim brakes to chew up rims has been mentioned about a zillion times in this thread.

 

[Binky]

Just to add another pointless nugget to this thread, yesterday I rode both my bikes. My old Canyon with Ultegra rim brakes on Hunt alu wheels with Swiss Stop BXP pads and my new Canyon with Ultegra hydraulic disc brakes and carbon wheels. Both in the dry. The difference was startling in comparison to me.
The rim brakes felt stiff, unresponsive and frankly ineffective in comparison to the fantastic feel and modulation of the disc brakes.

Now one bike is 9 years old, the other a few weeks so maybe being new and in brand new perfect condition made a difference but the rim brakes always worked(and still do of course) absolutely fine but the difference in feel etc was night and day.
This was just personal experience of riding one after the other.

 

[Hover Fly]

Rim brakes don't really wear rims unless you ride on wet roads. Rims last for ever on "best" bikes. I tend to seek out cheap rims for all-weather bikes, as I can build a good wheel from anything as long as it's properly plane and round. If you don't build your own wheels, the balance shifts in favour of discs because (a) you have to pay someone else to rebuild the wheel and (b) there are very few good wheelbuilders doing it for money, because what people are prepared to pay doesn't buy enough time to do a good job.

the best investment in time i ever made was the few hours it took to teach @Moon bunny wheelbuilding. she does a far better job than any of the bike shop whel builders I have used, for the price of an ice cream.

 

[Lostcause]

I’m undecided on the whole thing so I’ve compromised…..

 

[Milzy]

Rim brakes don't really wear rims unless you ride on wet roads. Rims last for ever on "best" bikes. I tend to seek out cheap rims for all-weather bikes, as I can build a good wheel from anything as long as it's properly plane and round. If you don't build your own wheels, the balance shifts in favour of discs because (a) you have to pay someone else to rebuild the wheel and (b) there are very few good wheelbuilders doing it for money, because what people are prepared to pay doesn't buy enough time to do a good job.

I’ve never scrapped a pair of wheels in 30 years. After a few years it’s nice to sell on and have some new rim wheels. Though some hand built I should have kept hold of.

 

[Milzy]

I’m undecided on the whole thing so I’ve compromised…..

View attachment 823014

Nice. What pedals are you running?

 

[Lostcause]

Nice. What pedals are you running?

They’re Shimano XTR SPD’s. It’s usually fixed gear but I did a mountainous ride so fitted a 2 speed kick shift hub that necessitated a rear brake which is why it looks like Frankensteins monster lol.

 

[Milzy]

The drilled levers & seat post awesome too.

 

[Lostcause]

The drilled levers & seat post awesome too.

Thanks , the levers are TRP and really very good. One finger back wheel off the ground braking and looks too. The seat post is a carbon Bontrager I got cheap because it looked worse for wear and matched the carbon in the fork and dropbars. I sanded off the decals and clear coated it for the understated look.

 

[rydabent]

How is that an elephant? There's nowt wrong with rim brakes.

How expensive are your wheels?

I dont use them, but fiber glass rims can cost $500 or more.

 

[Punkawallah]

I dont use them, but fiber glass rims can cost $500 or more.

$500? They must be right when they say “there’s one born every minute”.